The man won 88.7% of the vote, come on even Abraham Lincoln running today would not get 88% of the Vote in the USA. That is proof that the people of Syria love him, almost as much as the people of Chechnya love Putin. When was the last time a politician was so loved in Egypt or Iran that he/she won 88.7% of the vote. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-chechnya-elections-idUSTRE7BK1CA20111221
BTW, 73.42% voter turn out, in the middle of a civil war, with half the population living as refugees in neighboring countries, and yet 73% of the voters turn out to vote. What do you have to say about that 'Merica where you are lucky to get 63% of the vote to turn out. We need to learn from Assad and his people, not the other way around.
The vote wasn't about Assad per se; the participation and the vote was to say loudly and clearly that the Syrian people do not support the terrorists, mercenaries and criminals who have plunged their nation into civil war with foreign assistance and support. But, in any case, if the vote doesn't satisfy you, lets have another one -- this time under UN supervision! Of course, people who know they have no chance of winning such a vote, will not like the idea. Btw, one of the things that I find very telling is that in all the countries where Iran is portrayed as meddling, more people like Iran than Iran's foreign accusers! That is true based on Western polls in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. https://off-guardian.org/2015/12/19/western-poll-assad-supported-by-most-syrians/ Western poll: Assad supported by most Syrians
Of course, the people of Syria, responding to Western pollsters (using methodologies that often skew the numbers against Assad/Iran), are not just afraid to say something bad about Assad (as some like to pretend in dismissing these polls), but they are also afraid of saying something bad about Iran! That must be it.
Moron just linked to the wrong article. Next to it on the website's home page... https://brutalist.press/posts/695/united-nations-finally-acknowledges-us-backed-rebels-in-syria-are Another Russian on bigsoccer, it appears.
Well, for the record @American Brummie wasn't talking about @Iranian Monitor - but it's funnier if you read it that way.
I would be very suspicious of any links to an unknown NGO posted by this single-purpose propaganda sock who is a vocal proponent of extremist Wahhabis and Muslim Brotherhood types. Give your donations to reputable non-partisan international organizations like Red Cross instead.
The liberation of Aleppo was an important step in bringing peace to the people of Syria, the majority of whom (80%) now in areas controlled by the Syrian government. It was also a major defeat, albeit neither the first nor the last, suffered by the states that so ruthlessly plunged Syria into such bloodbath and mayhem. But the war in Syria is not over, even if its main protagonists might change. The main danger Syria faces is an understanding that might be reached between Russia, Turkey and the US (under Trump) -- with the blessing of the Israelis -- to change the focus in the fight from defeating the rebels to working on the plan they had worked towards all along, namely cutting Syria's alliance with Iran and Hezbollah. That is a serious danger for Syria, to say nothing of Iran, because as Assad and the Syrian people know full well, without Iran's support, Syria and the Syrian government would have never survived the plots against it and Syria would probably be dismembered by now. In any case, after investing tens of billions of dollars in Syria and the sacrifices made by hundreds of Iranian troops who paid with their lives to help Syria thwart these designs, I am sure Iran will not be sitting idly and let these folks plan a new strategy to dismember Syria. On one level, the corridor that Iran's allies have effectively carved linking Iran through Iraq and Syria to Beirut and the Mediterranean isn't going to be something Iran would want to give up. On another level, an important pillar of Iran's defense and deterrent policy is to make sure that the axis of resistance is kept intact to help Iran confront any security threats to Iran itself. The weeks and months ahead will be important in showing the contours of the political order that will be emerging in the future, not just for the Middle East but more generally. The Russians and the Turks want to basically offer Iran a zone of influence in the Shia areas of Iraq, and a temporary zone in Syria shared with Russia to be replaced with one under predominately Russian influence. Depending on what the others, especially the US, are willing to offer and bring to the table, may be a deal can be reached. But I doubt it and fear that we will be entering a very perilous period. The title to this Reuters report is misleading since Iran is not eyeing any such thing, but the main issues are suggested when you read the piece. Russia, Turkey, Iran eye dicing Syria into zones of influence
I support the deal that was made with Iran. I think had the GOP not been so determined to obstruct Obama at every turn that we could have made an even better deal and undermined the mullahs control of iran. Now with trump in you can expect the rhetoric and actions to ramp up until we are close to war. And in this case it won't be because Iran pushed for one, it will be because trump and his followers are looking at the money they made off the Iraq war and figure they will make even more off this next one.
So what then is supposed to happen? The fact is that Assad, while a bastard, seems to be winning right now. The only solution at this point is a negotiated one. Military force is not going to take down Assad unless some outside power intervenes. There is no stomach for that in the United States or any western country. Turkey seems more interested in killing Kurds than anything else, Iran and Russia have intervened, but for Assad, and the Arab nations seem to have not real ability to do anything. So what is the solution? Maybe people should leave the Syrians alone and let them figure out how to live together.
The propaganda reports C-Vision posts come straight from the mouth pieces of Wahhabi Arabia. None of them are meant or help truly understand what is going on in Syria. At the moment, the real issue is the attempts from various sides -- the incoming Trump administration in cahoots with the Israelis, along with Wahhabi Arabia and Turkey and others -- to drive a wedge in the tactical alliance between Iran and Russia in Syria. The extent to which that will work will, of course, depend on what the incoming Trump administration is willing to offer to the Russians. In the meantime, Iran has real interests in Syria and isn't going to sit by idly and let the future of Syria be decided at its expense by the US and Russia or anyone else. Instead, Iran's policy on Syria is clear and has been rather consistent: the future of Syria is to be decided with no preconditions or other limitations (including any limitations relating to Assad's role in that country) by the Syrian people, in free elections monitored by international organizations. That means the future of Syria will neither be decided by Wahhabi Arabia and the deranged groups it finances, nor by Turkey and its neo-Ottoman ambitions, nor by the Americans and Israelis and their obsession with weakening the axis of resistance, nor even by the Russians and their desire to prop up some friendly dictator from the Syrian military to have Syria operate within their sphere of influence. The Syrian people, after all the bloodshed and mayhem and destruction visited upon them by those who insisted that "Assad must go", deserve to choose their own future and the alliances, friends and foes they want. Anything other than that is unacceptable.
People throw that word around way too much. What is happening in Syria is a brutal civil war (are their any otehr kinds?). It is a humanitarian disaster. It is not a genocide.
The United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group". Assad is using these weapons against his own people -- there is no element of attempting to destroy a "national, ethnic, racial or religious group." A war crime by a brutal dictator. I have never said Assad is anything but that.
It was known for a long time that Assad had ties to terrorists and that some Nazis had hidden in Arab countries.